INTERVIEW
NORMAN HARRIS CONFESSES... � Bruce Adolph
If you look at the landscape of the top vintage guitar dealers in the U. S. and beyond, Norman’ s Rare Guitars and the man behind it- Norman Harris- have to be in the discussion. He has sold pristine vintage guitars to popular musicians and to everyday collectors like us for decades now. His new book“ Confessions of a Vintage Guitar Dealer” offers us his memoirs and shows us some of the truly remarkable examples of vintage guitars that he has in his own personal vault. Let’ s find out more...
COLLECTIBLE GUITAR: Norm, you didn’ t start out as a vintage guitar salesman in California, you started as a musician in Florida. How did that transition take place?
NORM: I started out as a Hammond B-3 organ player with my band in Florida. Both guitar players doubled on bass, but neither had a bass. I volunteered to buy one for both players to switch off from guitar to bass. I figured I would learn to play bass as well. I purchased an old Fender Jazz bass out of the Miami Herald Newspaper. The story is featured in my new book,“ Confessions of a Vintage Guitar Dealer.” I went to a pretty seedy part of town to pick up the bass. It was a 1962 Fender Jazz bass, very well worn with a sunburst finish. I negotiated the purchase, which totaled $ 125.00. I liked the way the bass played
and sounded … it looked like it had seen plenty of play in smoke filled clubs in Miami. As the seller wrote me a receipt, I noticed his name was Frank Williams. I asked,“ Are you the Frank Williams from the band Frank Williams and the Rocketeers featuring Little Beaver?” He said yes, and this was my favorite local band and Little Beaver was my favorite singer and guitar player.
After acquiring the bass, I was deluged with offers from local players. I figured I could possibly make money buying and selling used guitars. The word vintage had not yet been associated with guitars at this time but I knew I was on to something.
A few more deals solidified my hunch and the next thing I know I was buying and selling collectable guitars to my local friends. A select group of players became interested in older guitars. I was beginning to develop my own little group of players for my future clientele.
CG: When you first started buying guitars when was that moment when you thought,“ Hey, I can make a full time living doing this?”
NORM: When my phone began ringing and people were inquiring about what I had in stock and were also leaving me their names on a“ Want” file. When people heard I was paying strong prices for nice guitars, I was also getting calls with people selling their instruments.
Don’ t forget, at this time this was pre-internet. The only way for people to sell their guitars was through newspaper ads or selling them to local stores. Many of the stores had no interest in buying used guitars, so they would refer people to me. I always made sure to give people a fee when they referred business my way. This kept the calls coming. continued on page 26
Sep � Oct 2016 CollectibleGuitar. com
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